West La

The corner of Pico and Sepulveda boulevards is your standard Westside traffic nightmare, with rush hour commuters inching along at discouraging speeds just blocks from an even more congested 405 Freeway. The intersection, already a subject of bitter conversations among nearby residents, could see thousands more cars each day if the Los Angeles City Council this month signs off on a plan for 638 apartments, a supermarket, new restaurants and possibly a Target store. Backed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the so-called Casden West L.A. project is one of the city's most controversial examples of transit-oriented development - shopping and housing concentrated around a planned Expo Line light rail station.

A big rig and a second vehicle collided on the northbound 405 Freeway, causing 700 gallons of fuel to spill and blocking three lanes of traffic during Friday morning's rush hour. The crash occurred just after 6 a.m. between Waterford Street and Sepulveda Boulevard in Brentwood. More than 700 gallons of diesel fuel spilled across about two miles of highway, said California Highway Patrol Officer Monica Posada. The fuel might have spilled into a construction zone but was contained before it seeped into the ground, she said.

Motorists may want to avoid the northbound 405 Freeway in West Los Angeles during late and morning hours over the next two days. The northbound lanes around the 10 Freeway interchange will be shut down for repaving and restriping from midnight Sunday to 5 a.m. Monday, and then again from midnight Monday to 5 a.m. Tuesday, officials said. Motorists can reenter the freeway at Santa Monica or Wilshire boulevards. Traffic will be diverted onto the 10 Freeway and neighboring surface streets, such as Sepulveda and National boulevards, officials said.

A West Los Angeles man pleaded not guilty Thursday to more than half-a-dozen felony counts related to the Los Angeles Police Department's seizure of more than 17 pipe bombs from his residence Robert Colt Wilson, 29, faces seven criminal counts: possession of a destructive device on a public street, possession of a destructive device at a private habitat, possession of the ingredients to make a destructive device, possession of a controlled substance...

An upside-down American flag is considered a signal of distress. And that's the feeling Robert Rosebrock had when he looked up and noticed the red, white and blue street-lamp banners outside the Department of Veterans Affairs' West Los Angeles Medical Center were in disarray - tattered, tangled around the poles or flapping upside-down in the breeze. "It was disgraceful," said Rosebrock, a 71-year-old U.S. Army veteran who arranged for the flags' installation 11 months ago using $12,000 donated by Metabolic Studio, a charitable arm of the Annenberg Foundation.

Security guards at a Westside hospital believe they found a grenade in an emergency room, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department officials said Monday. Sheriff's deputies were called around 7 a.m. to the VA West Los Angeles Medical Center in the 11300 block of Wilshire Boulevard to respond to a possible explosive. Security guards there said they found a grenade in one of the hospital's emergency rooms. The building has been evacuated and the Sheriff's Department bomb squad is responding, a department spokesman said.

A charity walk to raise money and awareness for survivors of genocide around the world will take place Sunday in the Fairfax district. The seventh annual Walk to End Genocide will start at Pan Pacific Park in the 7600 block of Beverly Boulevard. Events start at 9 a.m. and will end by 2 p.m. The walk is being sponsored by Jewish World Watch. The walk is a 5K (just over 3 miles) around the park on paved surfaces. Registration fees are $12 for students and $20 for adults. Money raised from the event goes toward helping survivors of genocide and mass atrocities rebuild their lives through various relief projects, which can include everything from education to medical aid. The people of the Sudan and Congo are among the beneficiaries. The walk will be followed by a Global Village fair that will include food and craft booths, music and performances by spoken-word artists.

As a kid I rarely found reason to venture beyond L.A.'s Westside. But as a new college graduate, I found my birthplace suddenly felt vast, unwieldy. I wasn't yet sure who I wanted to be or what I wanted to do, much less whom I wanted to do it with. The uncertainty seemed mirrored by my hometown's rambling, mismatched geography. I went on a series of bad first dates with boys who lived in Hollywood, Venice Beach, the Valley, hoping one of them would give me a sign indicating which neighborhood might be right for me. I yearned to explore my city.

La Salle, located in Philadelphia, advanced to the Sweet 16 with a roster heavy with Philadelphia products. Guards Tyreek Duren, Ramon Galloway, Tyrone Garland and forward Jerrell Wright all hail from the City of Brotherly Love. The Explorers rode their talent to NCAA tournament victories over Kansas State and Mississippi and into Thursday's West Regional semifinal against Wichita State. Galloway grew up in Philadelphia, attended high school in Florida and played at South Carolina before transferring to La Salle before the 2011-12 season.

Holly Williams "The Highway" (Georgiana Records) On her third album, "The Highway," Holly Williams shows that she got maybe the three most important genes from her grandfather, Hank Williams, and her outlaw daddy, Hank Jr. - the ones having to do with the writing of a song, telling compelling stories and developing a fierce individualistic streak. "The Highway" is the most country-sounding record she's made, suggesting that as time goes by she's less insistent on emphasizing her distance from her celebrated forebears.